1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data synchronization. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for synchronizing data between a mobile terminal and an Internet phone that enables the mobile terminal to acquire an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the Internet phone and perform a data synchronization procedure using the IP address of the Internet phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mobile terminals vendors have their own proprietary technologies and solutions for performing data synchronization. The proprietary technologies and solutions only function with vender-specific devices and data types. Accordingly, it is difficult to connect and synchronize different vendors' products to each other without using converters specifically designed. The vendor-specific data synchronization protocols functions as an obstacle to pervasive mobile computing, e.g., restricts the mobility of user and data access and exchange. Accordingly, a need exists for a standardized common data synchronization protocol that can be used for all types of devices and servers. Synchronization Markup Language (SyncML) is an open data synchronization protocol to synchronize user data, such as task lists, address books, contacts, Electronic mail (E-mail), and personal notes, by means of a database located in a network.
Data synchronization is a process of establishing consistency among data (i.e., source data and target data) stored in more than two logical devices. Personal Information Management (PIM) is a well-known tool for organizing personal information including task lists, address books, contacts, E-mail, personal notes, and the like. A procedure of PIM information is described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1A and 1B.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams illustrating conventional data synchronization systems.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, two exemplary system architectures for data synchronization with a SyncML function are illustrated. A data synchronization system can be composed of a mobile terminal 10 and a PIM server 20. The mobile terminal 10 can be any of devices supporting mobility.
A user can update or change the PIM information by means of the mobile terminal 10. When it is required to synchronize the PIM information stored in the PIM server 20 with the PIM information updated at the mobile terminal 10, the mobile terminal 10 transmits the updated PIM data to the PIM server 20 using the SyncML function. The PIM server 20 receives the PIM information transmitted by the mobile terminal 10 and updates previously stored PIM information within a database. That is, the PIM server 20 updates the database of a corresponding user with the PIM information transmitted by the mobile terminal 10.
In order to exchange data between the mobile terminal 10 and the PIM server 20 using the SyncML function, the mobile terminal 10 can establish a communication link to the PIM server 20 via a mobile communication network by accessing a base station 40 as illustrated in FIG. 1A or an Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) network with the support of a SyncML gateway 60. In FIG. 1A, the mobile terminal 10 establishes a radio link 30 with the base station.
In FIG. 1B, the SyncML gateway 60 can be a Personal Computer (PC), and the mobile terminal 10 connects to the PIM server 20 via the TCP/IP network. The mobile terminal 200 can be coupled with the SyncML gateway 60 through a wireless or wired communication link 50. The wireless communication link 50 can be established using a short range communication technology such as Infrared Data Association (IrDA) or Bluetooth. The wired communication link 50 can be established using a Universal Serial Bus cable. The SyncML gateway 60 and the PIM server 20 communicate with each other using the TCP/IP.
Recently, a widespread use of the Internet has increased the use of Internet telephony. An Internet phone functions similar to the mobile terminal, and thus it is not difficult to share data between the mobile terminal and the Internet phone. In such cases, data synchronization is essentially required.
In order to synchronize the data between the mobile terminal and the Internet phone, the mobile terminal accesses the PIM server via the mobile communication network or an IP network, and the Internet phone accesses the PIM server via the IP network such that the PIM server maintains most recently updated data and provides the mobile terminal and the Internet phone with the updated data when requested.
In the conventional data synchronization method, the PIM server is involved in the synchronization procedure between the devices and when using the Internet, the Internet phone must be connected to the SyncML gateway. Since the conventional data synchronization method requires access to an external server and an authentication process per device, the synchronization procedure is complex and time consuming. Also, when providing synchronization of a small amount of data, processing complexity costs are increased.
Therefore, a need exists for a method and system for simplifying data synchronization between a mobile terminal and an Internet phone.